


Re-establishing "Us"

by MelyndaR



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 13:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: Steve and Bucky are found and returned to Peggy... but she's not sure that they're the same boys that she remembers.





	Re-establishing "Us"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whiteraven1606](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/gifts).



> Mostly this is a random bit of fluff/slice of life piece with a side helping of "everybody is protective of everybody." Hopefully you like it!

It was harder than Peggy had ever dreamed it would be – by quite a long shot, actually – to bring her boys home to Howard’s house in New York, the one that she had shared with Angie until her friend had recently gone off and gotten married to a perfectly ridiculous Italian man who would keep her laughing for decades. The weeks following that wedding had been lonely for Peggy, as she had been readjusting to the New York weather, and to lack of other people to live with. Thankfully, Howard had trailed her back to New York within a month of Angie moving out, and he’d brought the Jarvises with him.

 _Then_ some of his… search crew had found Steve’s crashed ship in the Arctic, and that was three days _after_ the Howling Commandos had called Peggy up, screaming that they had found James Barnes in one of the last remaining HYDRA cells that they had raided.

Peggy had gone from bored to busy nearly overnight. Howard had personally flown out to where Steve had been found, and Peggy, along with Jason Wilkes for scientific reasons, had gone to Russia to bring Barnes home.

Once there, Jason had quickly been able to put their worries for Barnes’ health to rest. Apparently the Howlies hadn’t been exaggerating their reports; Barnes was better then all right, in fact he was better then he’d ever been.

“It’s thanks to a bastard version of Stevie’s serum,” Barnes had explained in the concise, nearly gruff manner that seemed to be characteristic of him since he’d been found in Russia.

Peggy worried for him, but not really for any physical reasons. The Russians had looked after him well enough physically, that was abundantly clear. “If it’s a bastard version, I’d hate to see their good version,” she’d declared, and for her James had smiled in a way that almost, almost reached his eyes.

He needed a place to feel at home again, Jason suggested, a place to rest and recover and be at peace. So, Peggy carted him back to New York and the Jarvises with their warm hugs and laughter and delicious foreign dishes as soon as Jason was satisfied he could travel.

He wasn’t the James she remembered – things had happened while he had been away from her and Steve that he wasn’t yet ready to talk about – but they spent a week alone in the huge house with only the Jarvises for occasional company, relearning one another, and she liked to think that had helped him. They had always been friends of a sort, first just acquaintances through Steve, then _proper_ friends themselves, and then – as now again – they fell into being lovers besides. It was a… different sort of week without Steve there as well, but it was good, and Peggy was glad that they had the time together before Steve, too, was released by the doctors he’d been entrusted to.

Apparently, defrosting from an ice coffin took a bit longer to recover from then he’d expected, Steve had quipped after James and Peggy had met him in the hospital on the day of his discharge. Peggy, at least, had tried to chuckle at the horrible joke; James had glanced away, unspoken ghosts flickering through his eyes before he shoved them away. Steve noticed his look, too, though, and frowned at Peggy, who could only shrug.

In time, they could learn one another’s horrors; for now she wanted to revel in the joys of having them both again.

“You would like to get settled in the house first, I suppose?” Peggy asked Steve, climbing into the driver’s seat as Steve folded himself into the passenger’s seat and James sprawled across the backseat.

He shrugged. “Sure, if you want, but it’s not like I feel like a sick invalid or anything.”

“You wouldn’t know if you did, necessarily,” James pointed out. “You’re so used to feeling that way, pre-serum, I doubt you’d notice if you felt bad now.”

“Come on, now, Buck, give me some credit, I’m not a total idiot!”

Peggy had to bite back a smile even as she held her hands up for peace and quiet. Together again, here were her boys come back to her. “In that case,” she asked Steve. “There’s a couple of friends of mine and Howard’s who would very much like to meet you. If you’re willing, we can go there first.”

“Sounds fine to me.”

“You are going to love Ana’s cooking,” James announced from the back. “But you and Jarvis are _not_ allowed to inspire one another with your flight stories.”

Peggy allowed herself to smile at James’ mothering tone, and even though she could’ve listened to her boys going back and forth like this for hours, Steve turned the radio on after a few more minutes. Peggy rolled her eyes as far as she could manage when the _Captain America_ radio show came on.

“This should be good,” James hummed, sitting forward a bit in his seat.

Peggy kept her mouth resolutely closed and let them come to their own conclusions as the show progressed. She was worried about them – about how they would readjust to anything that might resemble civilian life, about the fact that they both wanted the house kept at sweltering temperatures rather then risk feeling the cold again, about the nights they didn’t even bother coming to bed, let alone sleeping – she felt hope for them in that moment. They were still her boys, as evidenced by the horrified expressions that were growing on their faces the longer they listened to the radio program.

“What is this garbage? I don’t want my name on this!” Steve protested.

James leaned forward and flipped the radio off entirely with a disgusted look on his face. He muttered something under his breath in Russian before suggesting of Peggy, “Hey, tell Stevie about the house. You’re not going to believe this place, Steve. You could fit twenty of either one of our homes from when we were kids…”

Despite James’ request, Peggy just kept quiet and listened to them talk to one another. She wanted to soak up the moment and live here forever, but she knew she couldn’t. Even better then that, she knew that there would be many more moments to come for the three of them, and she couldn’t wait to get started.


End file.
